Michael Irvin: When a gay player comes out, I’ll support him

Posted by Michael David Smith on July 12, 2011, 1:47 PM EST

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Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin has given a fascinating interview to Cyd Zeigler of Out magazine, offering wide-ranging thoughts about how the football world would react to a gay player coming out.

“If anyone comes out in those top four major sports, I will absolutely support him,” Irvin said. “That’s why I do my radio show every day. When these issues come out, I want to have a voice to speak about them. I think growth comes when we share. Until we do that, we’re going to be stuck in the Dark Ages about a lot of things. When a guy steps up and says, ‘This is who I am,’ I guarantee you I’ll give him 100% support.”

Irvin says the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s would have been accepting of a gay player in the locker room.

“I believe, if a teammate had said he was gay, we would have integrated him and kept moving because of the closeness,” Irvin said. “We had a bunch of different characters on that team. Deoin [Sanders] and Emmitt [Smith]. I believe that team would have handled it well.”

“The last thing I want is to go to God and have him ask, ‘What did you do?’ And I talk about winning Super Bowls and national titles,” Irvin says. “I didn’t do anything to make it a better world before I left? That would be scary.”

Irvin says he’s proud to support civil rights for everyone.

“I don’t see how any African-American with any inkling of history can say that you don’t have the right to live your life how you want to live your life,” Irvin said. “No one should be telling you who you should love, no one should be telling you who you should be spending the rest of your life with. When we start talking about equality and everybody being treated equally, I don’t want to know an African-American who will say everybody doesn’t deserve equality.”

Irving’s hypocritical past provides no basis for the public to believe what he says to promote his own image/radio show. He should prove his support for gays through actions, and then explain his rationale through an interview.

orbearider66 says:
Jul 12, 2011 1:58 PM
Somehow I don’t think Charles Haley would have been as welcoming.
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I’m not sure he’s the best example. I’d hope he would be understanding of how people can be different considering one of his favorite pastimes was alleged to be taking “little Charles” out for air and “tending to him” in the lockerroom in front of his teammates.

@ zoxitic, you know, there are a lot of people that against gay people that are not religious and a lot of religious people that are not against gay people. The opposite is also true. I am not relgious by any means, but I find it lame, pathetic, and lazy to always blame religion for all the problems in the world. It cause some, true, it also helps some. Am I the only person that thinks the focus should be on fixing the problem and not on pointing fingers? Same thing with racism. Focus on fixing it and STOP giving so much power to the people against equality. Pointing fingers does nothing but stir things up, force people on one side or the other and then forces them to fight with each other over who is right and who is wrong. It needs to be approached in a mature fashion. Gay, straight, white, black, purple and pink, there is no difference.

Irvin says the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s would have been accepting of a gay player in the locker room.
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Of course they would. The real revelation is whether they would have been accepting of straight players in that lockerroom.

Where’s the benefit for anyone NOT supporting the first “out” athlete? I mean, you could do it…take a stand against this guy, for moral and/or religious beliefs…and soon find out the repercussions of your “freedom of speech.”
You’ll certainly be turned into a pariah by the hyper-sensitive, PC types, who will most assuredly be gunning for you at that juncture. With all the money these guys could stand to lose, where’s the benefit? Just bite your tongue and keep the good times rolling.

Really Mike… Would they? Didn’t Mr. Tolerant here stab a teammate in the neck over a haircut?

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Depends on who you want to believe. Anybody that was there and the judge that investigated the incident in an attempt to revoke Irvin’s probation, or some knucklehead fans and media types that insist otherwise.

Somethings seriously messed up in the USA when the main course on everyones plate is to deal with somebodys sexual issues, instead of fixing the matter of your financial issues, because they are real, and not some ferry tale.

The bible clearly states that a man sleeping with another man is dispicable in the eyes of the lord. How can 80% of the country claim to be christians, but only 50% or so think its wrong to be gay? With that said, why can’t I read sports news anymore without having to hear about who dude’s choose to have sex with?

Irvin’s late brother, who passed away from stomach cancer recently, was openly gay, which is another reason as to why Irvin has strong feelings on this matter. He goes on to talk about that in more detail if you care to read the entire interview.

If a football player, an ACTIVE football player came out he would be out-kast. I believe that Michael Irvin would support, but there are a lot of people who would:

A) Want to support, but go with the crowd of people who are angered by it. It takes a strong person to stand on your own against a majority, and most folks aren’t strong people.

B) Make that person’s life miserable. Putting things in their lockers, damaging vehicles, etc.. Cowards.

I wouldn’t care if I was a football player. His life doesn’t affect me. He is attracted to other gay people and he wouldn’t be any more interested in me than a lesbian would be interested in a man.

I respect Irvin’s stance on this. Irvin is good people. He has had trouble in his life, but he has for the most part been a good person since overcoming his troubles. He still may on occasion stay some stupid things he shouldn’t, but don’t we all?

sure he would, now that he doesn’t need to worry about buying “soap on a rope”.
If big Nate Newton came up next to him in the shower checking out his booty, with a woody, he wouldn’t have said that then.

On one hand, this site has been overwhelmingly in support of the owners – indicating a conservative bent. It’s hard for me to believe that all these conservatives are now so supportive of gays in their comments. Then again, when has this site not been inconsistent.

As a Christian, I find it absolutly wrong to use religion or any other media to discriminate against Hommosexuals. I cant quite rap my mind around the word, Gay, yet. No one asked me if they could use that word.
Check out the New Testament where Jesus states very clearly, “Judge not least you be judged”, and “Any person without sin may cast the first stone”. Kinda raps it up, does it not? Lets all be more mindfull of what Jesus wants, not some old story from the Old Testament.

Way to go Michael! I no longer think you’re just talk and hot air. This is a great thing to say.

The NFL has gay players right now, and odds are there was more than one gay player on the Jimmy Johnson era Cowboys. Mathmatical odds would be against any team in the NFL being 100% straight.

And for people who say this is a non-issue, as long as I keep reading news stories about gay teens committing suicide, acceptance is an issue.

I remember seeing an interview with one of the older Green Bay players (Fuzzy Thurston?) stating that Lombardi was adament that everyone on his team be treated with equality. He said Lombardi specifically stated that included the gays as well as the blacks. The fact that Lombardi refused to allow Southern cities to segregate his players was a big deal – a major step forward for the NFL.

Seeing all the nasty comments directed at Irvin, just for saying he’d support someone for admitting they were gay, says that this is a discussion that needs to continue.

Jokes are suppose to be the ones who are slow to this sort of progressive thinking [which it isn’t really progressive, more like common sense if you ask me]. Shows that society is actually just as slow if not slower than the athletically gifted.

I called it..with this lockout still going, to get “hits” we have now covered race (with the whole Cam, Warren Moon thing)…now we have dipped into the next controversial topic of Gays. If this lockout isn’t done by the 21st, I am wondering how abortion will be worked into Pro Football.

It is incorrect to call Tyree’s opposition to marriage between people of the same sex “discrimination.” He may be wrong, but he is not necessarily a bigot. If he is — because of this opposition — then millions of people with the same position are. That contention is in itself bigoted.

Jesus says that he did not come here to replace the law… as laid out in the old testament. One of those being that men should not sleep with other men. Jesus says to not judge each other as he will do that. Therefore I wouldn’t pass judgement on the individual because that’s not my place. The act itself has been labeled as a sin by god and therefore, I don’t need to judge it, God has done that for us. What Jesus wanted was for us to love one another. We can do that with out accepting or glorifying their actions, that were declared by God to be sins.

It drives me crazy when people say that the son of God telling us to love one another completely overrides the things that were labeled as right/wrong by the Father, who Jesus says on multiple instances, is perfect.

I think the Bible takes issue with greed, fornication, that slavery thing, wars, people starving while some sit around in mansions, being fat from overeating, you want to keep going?

The Bible condemns alot of things, still doesn’t justify punishing those people for the way they are. According to the Bible, Jesus turned to a murderer and promised him heaven, so are you kidding me with this Bible argument about who somebody’s poking around with in the dark?

Tyree is discriminating against them if he is anti-marriage. If gays aren’t allowed to marry they’re not reaping all the benefits/rights (or negatives some would say!) that straight couples can. That being said, he has said on record he is only anti-marriage for gays, he’s not out there discriminating on them in general. Just can’t let them tie that dangerous knot!

The new testament tells you that its not what goes in your body that makes a person unclean, but what comes out. Jesus says that since the food goes in my stomach and not my heart that I can eat it. And… I have not seen a need to concern myself with the rules on menstruating. It’s really not this hard, if you actually read the bible instead of just quoting things you heard somewhere.

bowski72 says:
Jul 12, 2011 2:54 PM
The bible clearly states that a man sleeping with another man is dispicable in the eyes of the lord. How can 80% of the country claim to be christians, but only 50% or so think its wrong to be gay? With that said, why can’t I read sports news anymore without having to hear about who dude’s choose to have sex with?
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How can 80% of people claim to be Christian and still support gay rights? By not judging people I guess. I’m Christian and have no problem with gay rights. I got a problem with the religious fanatics that want to force their version of morals down everyone’s throat.

It sounds like Irvin has really matured since retirement. I’m not so sure how accepting he or many of his other teammates would have be so accepting when they were younger (and less wise). It’s easy for Irvin to say this from the broadcast booth, but when he’s in the lockeroom with an openly gay player, somehow I think his reaction would be less tolerant.

Either way, I applaud his “coming out” to state that he’s not an intolerant bigot like so many others who claim to be a loving Christian.

Anyone taking this chance to have some kinda “drug” joke about Irvin is nothing more than a little person whom probably lives in their mommys basement and is angry at the world because they don’t have friends.

M. Irvin has worked really hard in his life to not be a junkie loser. Now he may have had some advantages that other drug user don’t he still put in the work to get clean and I for one will always admire him for doing that. Also he is a guy that does a lot for charity and his community. So go a head and poke fun at the guy. Keep being angry at the world because all you have is a computer screen in mommy’s basement.

Mr. Irvin is making a brave statement imo. He has to know that being gay in pro sports is still looked down apon. I have to believe that there is more than a few players in sports who feel just a lil bit better about themselves after hearing a guy of that stature coming out and saying he would support them. Especially in the Black community. For some reason my guess is that silly religion they follow the Blacks don’t like the gays. But i agree with Irvin. With the history of Black folks in this country, you’d think they would be for all civil rights.

I’m saying this and i was one of the “evil” philly fans who cheered the injury that basicly ended his career. Way to go Irvin. You have a lot of respect in philly even if we don’t always show it !

As a commentator on NFLN and a well respected NFL alum, does he know something we don’t?

Bottom line is I don’t care if you’re black, white, gay, straight, whatever. The day “racial equality” or “no predjudice” is achieved is when the Dungy/Lovie Smith-being-the-first duo-of-black-coaches-to-face-each-other-in-the-SB story or an athlete-saying-he’s-gay-while-an-active-player story isn’t made into a big deal. I could have cared less that Dungy/Smith were the first duo of black head coaches to meet in the SB. I think they’re excellent coaches not excellent BLACK coaches. It’s like we have to pat each other on the back by pointing these things out when something like this happens when it really shouldn’t matter. Same with the gay athlete. I understand it would be the first time, but really, should it matter?

I know someone will say something about the country’s history of racial tension, and I agree. But, the only way to move forward is to not look back. Stop using history as an excuse. We shouldn’t forget what happened in history, but at some point you gotta let it go. The younger generations now simply don’t care about race or who’s gay as much as the older generations, and it’ll get less and less as years go by.

Again, I know there are very real issues still occuring. My point is that something like the Dungy/Smith thing just isn’t important. I think the same would hold true if a gay athlete came out. There would be a few that would be idiots as always, but I think for the most part, people would fall more in line with Irvin. Then, again, I say your business is your business. No one says that anyone has tell anybody anything about their private lives. I personally don’t WANT to know. It’s not my business. Just play football (ie do your job) and do it well!

“If anyone comes out in those top four major sports, I will absolutely support him,”
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Why wouldn’t you? Only a self righteous, pretentious, moron who believes in magic and superstitions (people not worth wasting a bullet on) would have a problem with that (bowski -sister humper I am looking at you).

You obviously don’t know what the word “shun” means. Also, there are guidelines regarding seafood, dairy, oils, bread and many others. There are instruction to stone and otherwise assail people for a myriad of what the most zealous of person would consider not-at-all or minor infractions. Anyone who claims to follow both the Old Testament and the New, but has not read the scriptures translated directly from the ancient Aramaic is a common drone, living his life based on the misinterpretations of a book which has been misused, debased and abridged consistently over the past nearly two millennia. Bowski, your paraphrasing a book you haven’t read and do not fully understand is exactly why Christian zealots are just as dangerous as Muslim extremists. Btw, Yeshua also said: “Render unto Cesar what is Cesar’s.” We have to assume that you’re not one of the folks bitching about how high taxes are? We must further assume that you’re tithing appropriately?

“The last thing I want is to go to God and have him ask, ‘What did you do?’ And I talk about winning Super Bowls and national titles,” Irvin says. “I didn’t do anything to make it a better world before I left? That would be scary.”

If you’re an atheist, then how did this inspire you? The image of Michael Irvin standing before God should make you scoff since you do not believe in God. Maybe you should rethink if you’re an atheist.

hatesycophants says: Anyone who claims to follow both the Old Testament and the New, but has not read the scriptures translated directly from the ancient Aramaic is a common drone, living his life based on the misinterpretations of a book which has been misused, debased and abridged consistently over the past nearly two millennia.

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Someone doesn’t know history. The Old Testament was written primarily (over 98%) in Hebrew. The New Testament was written in Greek.

Hard to take anything you say about the Bible seriously when you show your complete ignorance like that.

its all over blown..nothing will happen to the person that comes out you wanna know why its easy 4 BIG LETTER ESPN will make it a huge deal for the world to see..it will be on all the time..how its was a struggle..how its soo hard..and everything that goes with it..wanna know another reason why it wont be that big of a deal in sports …..what matters the most in sports MONEY…yep..so say tom brady came out and said he was gay..would anyone on the pats say screw you..if they do i bet they wouldnt be on the pats after that..and man you think mike vick had a hard time finding a job..dang just wait till all the pro gay-lesbian groups get ahold of you..no gm or owner will want to touch you….even if a special team player comes out they would still support him because like i said the news and everyone would be all over it..and there is no way a owner or coach is goin to fire a guy after he comes out because a few players dont like it..cause then all the gay and lesbian groups will be all over that team..negative spot light..lose money..when it starts happin it will be like anything else..if you support it say it loud so everyone will love you….if you dont support it just shut your mouth earn your paychecks..i bet thats what the owners and coaches will tell there players.. until the player retires then talks about how much he hated it..